


Afterlife Crises

by Writer_Steph94



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Season/Series 01, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26731228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writer_Steph94/pseuds/Writer_Steph94
Summary: With Willie MIA and Caleb plotting his revenge when Reggie meets a ghost-girl on the beach it is the first in a series of events that could spell the end for Julie and the Phantoms, for good.  Where is Willie? What is Caleb up to? And who is this mysterious new girl? Read to find out.
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 76





	1. The one where Reggie makes a new friend

It was a few days after Julie and The Phantoms played the Orpheum and the band was riding high; between playing the gig they never got to play when they were alive, getting rid of Caleb’s stamp and Julie being able to actually touch them the good vibes couldn’t get much better. 

After a long day of practising, Julie had headed up to the house for dinner with her family leaving the boys at a loose end; Reggie decided to do one of his favourite things and chill at the beach while Luke stayed behind to work on a song that he’d been struggling to find the right words to and Alex went out looking for Willie. 

The sun was setting over the ocean when he poofed in, the sky a mixture of pink and gold with wisps of cloud floating through. Reggie smiled; hands stuffed into the pockets of his ripped skinny jeans. 

“Would you mind moving? You’re blocking the view.” Someone said from behind him. 

Startled Reggie spun around to see a young woman sitting on the sand a foot behind him; she had pale white blonde hair that fell in waves to her chest and dark, soulful eyes sitting above high cheekbones that were shadowed by her long lashes. 

“You...you can see me?!” Reggie stammered, mouth gaping and eyes blown wide in shock. 

The girl dusted some sand off of her black sundress and gave him a sardonic look, a single white eyebrow raised. 

“Well yes, and because I can see you, I can no longer see the lovely sunset I was watching before you arrived. So, if you wouldn’t mind moving?” She replied, her British accent more pronounced than before due to her mild irritation. 

Reggie stumbled sideways and slumped onto the sand next to her, mouth still gaping and eyes still bugging out of his head. The girl raised a pale, delicate hand to her mouth to smother a small giggle at his gracelessness, which prompted Reggie to quickly snap his mouth closed and cough embarrassedly into his fist. 

She smiled, lips curling at the edges and offered him her hand. 

“I’m Ell. Pleasure to meet you.” She said. 

Reggie reached out hesitantly before taking it in one of his own and shaking it gently before quickly releasing it to wipe his suddenly sweaty palms against his jeans. 

“I’m Reggie. It’s...ah...nice to meet you too.” He replied ruffling his hair and giving her a half smile. “So, I'm guessing since you can see and touch me, you’re also....” 

“Dead? Yes. Have been for a while now.” Ell filled in for him, her smile softening and eyes gentling before turning back to the glowing sunset. 

Reggie watched her profile as she gazed out over the ocean and to the horizon; she was very pretty. Long legs stretched out over the sand, pale unblemished skin, hair gently dancing in the small breeze. There was a faint scent of roses and violets, he knew that smell cause his Grammie used to wear violet scented perfume, and something else he couldn't quite place. It was a clear, fresh, almost minty, pine scent with a touch of ...honey?

“You, ah, come here often?” He asked, already cursing himself as the words passed his lips. ‘you come here often’? What the hell was he thinking? 

“No, my first time actually. I wanted to travel the world when I was alive, now I’m dead there’s nothing stopping me.” Ell replied with a laugh, stretching her arms up to the sky and then bringing them down to support her. 

“Oh, that’s cool. Do you just ‘poof’ places and see the sites or what?” 

“Something like that. I prefer sticking around a place for a while though, really get the feel for it. Even take a shot at learning the language if I get a chance. It’s fun.” 

She turned to grin at him and it lit up her entire face, her dark eyes sparkled like black jewels and made him upgrade her from ‘pretty’ to ‘beautiful’. 

“What about you? What have you been doing with your afterlife?” She asked, head tilted and hair spilling down over the thin straps of her dress. 

“I...um.... I, well me and my friends? We’re kind of in a band? I mean we were in one when we were alive but now, we’re in a different band with this super cool girl called Julie. Only she’s like, alive, so that’s weird.” Reggie babbled when he was nervous and he was always nervous around beautiful women. 

Ell’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Wait, there’s a human, a living breathing human, who can see you?” 

“Yeah it’s weird for us to. Awesome, but weird. She’s great though, really helped us out and has an amazing voice.” Reggie enthused. He was at his happiest and most confident when he was talking about the band, specifically everyone but himself. 

Ell looked faintly amused at his enthusiasm as he gesticulated wildly, going on and on about his band mates and how amazing they were. He would often pause to ask her questions which she answered happily though she always had a question of her own that put the focus back on him. She laughed brightly when he told her funny anecdotes about the early days of Sunset Curve, stared at with rapt attention as he explained the beginnings of Julie and the Phantoms and when he got to the part about Caleb and his stamp her face was a mix of horrified and downright murderous. 

“That motherfucking bastard! Who the hell does he think he is?” She snarled, anger changing her face, her white brows scrunched were up so they made an ivory ‘V’ over ice cold obsidian eyes, hands clenched in the sand. 

Reggie nodded in agreement, resentment still bubbling inside him at the son-of-a-bitch who conned and nearly destroyed them. 

“I mean, to take away someone's freedom? Their free will? Its fucking blasphemy is what it is! I have half a mind to find this Caleb and kick his arse from here to Timbuctoo!” She ranted, hands spraying sand as they came up to cross her arms with an angry huff. 

“Yeah, would not recommend going after him. Big no-no. He’d probably stamp you as well, or worse!” Reggie crowed, suddenly nervous that his new friend (?) was going to get herself in a world of trouble. 

Ell considered him for a long moment and then sighed heavily, the tension flowing from her body down into the sand. 

“I suppose you’re right. It just pisses me off. It’s bad enough we’re dead without people like him pulling crap like that.” Ell replied wearily rubbing her temples, eyes drifting closed so that her long dark lashes kissed her cheeks. 

“I know it sucks, but hey- we got away from him, we’ve got Julie and our music. So,it’s not so bad.” 

He nudged her shoulder gently and she chuckled softly, hands falling away and eyes fluttering open and nudged him back with a small tilt to her lips. 

“Yeah, I guess so. I’d love to see you guys play sometime though, meet this girl who can apparently see ghosts. If that would be cool with you?” She enquired, looking up at him through her lashes with big dark eyes that seemed to draw him in, drown him in their inky depths. 

He went to respond but finding himself tongue tied he simply nodded repeatedly. Cleared his throat and tried again. 

“I’d have to clear it with the guys but, uh, I’m sure they’d be cool with it.” 

Her pout like petal pale lips widened in a smile revealing perfect pearl white teeth. He noticed almost absently that she had dimples when she smiled. 

“That would be amazing! From what you’ve told me, they sound like incredible people. In the meantime, if you ever want to hang out again, I’m going to be here every night for sunset. I have a thing about them.” She replied cheerily before standing up, brushing the sand off of her dress and smiling down at him in the soft twilight which was when Reggie realised that sunset was long since passed and the stars were out in force, they must have been talking for hours. 

“Yeah, I am absolutely going to take you up on that but right now the guys are probably wondering where I've gotten off to, you know? But I'll ask about you coming to see us play, okay?” Reggie proclaimed as he scrambled to his feet offering Ell a cheeky grin and a wave goodbye which she returned before they both poofed out.


	2. The one where there are serious feels

Luke was idly strumming his six string when Reggie arrived, Alex was lying prone on the sofa staring listlessly at the ceiling which told Reggie everything he needed to know about how his search had gone that evening. 

“’Sup guys!” Reggie called, startling Alex so badly he nearly fell onto the floor. Luke on the other hand looked up from his guitar with a grin and gave him a two fingered salute before returning his attention to his music making. 

Alex reorientated himself so that he was sitting on the sofa properly and folded his arms over his chest giving Reggie a rather convincing imitation of the look his mother used to give him when he came home at three in the morning after a gig. 

“And what time do you call this Reginald?” Alex demanded, blonde brows nearly at his hairline and mouth set in a judgemental line. 

Reggie just laughed and ambled into the room and threw himself into the other chair, legs swung over the arm and arms crossed behind his head. 

“Sorry, Mom. I got caught up talking with this gorgeous ghost girl down at the beach. Lost track of time. Won’t happen again. Scouts honour.” Reggie replied with a grin. 

This caught Luke’s attention, his head shooting up and caused Alex to drop the ‘angry Mom’ act in shock. 

“You were never a Scout and what’s this about a hot ghost girl?” Luke said pointing an accusing finger at Reggie whilst setting down his guitar, exchanging a look with Alex as he did so. 

“Oh man, dude. You should have seen her. She was a freaking goddess. We talked for hours, man.” Reggie told them excitedly, hands waving around as he spoke to emphasise his point, face alight with happiness and the beginnings of infatuation. 

“A girl. Willingly talked to you. For hours. Seriously?” Alex asked incredulously. Nt. 

Reggie made an offended whine and turned sad green eyes on his friend who had the good grace to look a little guilty. 

“Rude. And hurtful. Words hurt Alexander.” 

Hands raised in the universal ‘my bad’ gesture Alex responded carefully. 

“I’m sorry Reggie but you’re not exactly the greatest when it comes to talking to girls, you either drive them away with a cheesy pick up line or like word vomit at them.” 

“Okay, never say word vomit at them again, it’s disgusting,” Luke said to Alex with a vaguely nauseas look on his face before turning to Reggie who had swung his legs around and was slumped carelessly in his seat. “But…. Alex has a point. You’re great at finding hot girls, not so great at keeping them around.” 

Feeling properly insulted Reggie launched himself out of his seat and started pacing, a la Alex, arms flailing as he spoke. 

“Yeah, well, I did this time. We talked for hours; she told me about how she’s like travelling the world and all the different places she’s been and she listened to me when I was telling her about you guys, about the band and about meeting Julie...” 

“You told her about Julie?!” Luke yelled, rocketing out of his seat to get in Reggie’s face. “Why would you tell some random ghost about Julie? You remember what just happened with Caleb?!” 

Reggie reeled back in the face of Luke’s worry fuelled anger, eyes blown wide. He raised his hands placatingly, trying to get his friend to chill for a moment. 

“Ell is nothing like Caleb. She’s a great girl and I really like her. She even asked if you guys would be cool if she came to watch us play.” He retorted with a hint of pleading in his voice, almost begging Luke to be chill with this, totally omitting the fact she’d only asked him if it would be okay and he’d suggested asking the guys permission. It was a small lie but one he felt was justified in the face of the greater good. Namely, him finally maybe getting a girlfriend. 

“We're not saying she is anything like Caleb,” Alex, ever the peacemaker, chimed in totally ignoring Luke’s indignant snort, “Just that after last time, we want to be careful about new ghosts we let into our afterlives, okay?” 

“It’s not just about us, it’s about Julie as well! What if Caleb had come after Julie, huh? I mean we had it pretty bad but did any of you think of what he could’ve done to her?” Luke scrubbed his hands through his hair angrily, an old habit of his that his band mates new well. 

Reggie felt like he’d been punched in the gut, he knew the feeling well from his time among the living. He hadn’t thought about that and judging from the half guilty half horrified look on Alex’s face he hadn’t considered it either. 

“Dude. I didn’t even think...” 

“Thats the problem man, you never think. This chick could be seriously bad news and now she knows about Julie, you could’ve but her in danger.” 

“Okay that was uncalled for. I know you’re worried about Julie, we all are, but that doesn’t mean we should be turning on each other.” Alex scolded Luke, Reggie’s wounded expression at their lead guitarists words still fresh. 

Tears pricked at the corner of his verdant eyes, intangible breath catching in his illusory chest. Luke had sounded just like his Dad just then. It was almost like he could hear his Dad yelling at him again for skipping school to practice with the band, leading to the school calling the house and worrying his Mom when he didn’t come home until late into the evening, having been missing for hours. 

“For god's sake Reginald, you never think. Stop being such an idiot.” 

“Hey, hey, hey. Reggie. Man, I didn’t mean it. I know you care about Julie, I'm sorry okay.” 

Suddenly he was wrapped in the arms one of his best friend, teary eyed face pressed tight against Luke’s muscular shoulder. His arms came up to wind around his middle as he felt the familiar weight of Alex drape itself over his back as he too joined in on the hug and suddenly it was like they were back to the night Reggie had finally had enough of his parents fighting and had left home. They’d hugged him like this that night as well. 

“You know I'd never do anything that could put you guys or Julie in danger, don’t you? I love you guys.” Reggie said softly, voice muffled against Lukes shoulder, shirt soaking up the few tears that leaked out of his eyes. 

“Yeah man, we know.” 

“And we love you too.” 

Sniffling, Reggie started to pull back out of the hug, using the sleeves of his flannel to wipe his face, trying to be all casual about it and knowing he was failing miserably. 

“You good man?” Luke asked, resting a hand on Reggie’s shoulder, head tilted and concern creasing his brow. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m good. You guys...you don’t really think Ell could be evil, right?” Reggie replied as he stuffed his hands into his pockets so that he wouldn’t fidget, eyes locked onto a spot on the floor. 

Alex and Luke exchanged a look over Reggie’s shoulder, Luke questioning and, Alex utterly non-plussed, shrugged. Sighing Luke gripped Reggie’s shoulder tight for a moment to get him to look up at him, green met hazel, and offered him a tight half smile. 

“How about we meet her, you, me and Alex and we’ll see what we think of her.” 

“Yeah, and I’m sure she’s not evil or anything.” Alex chimed in shooting a hard look at Luke as he did so. 

Reggie’s returning grin was mega-watt as he crowed victory and yanked his two best buddies into a grapple hug, the other two hoping all the while that they weren’t making another mistake.


	3. The one where music saves the day

The boys decided collectively not to tell Julie about Ell until they had determined whether she was an evil ghost looking to enslave their souls, again, or whether she was just a chill girl who was surprisingly tolerant of Reggie’s...effervescent personality. They went about their day normally, or as normally as you could when you were 17-year-old ghosts stuck 25 years in the future; Reggie hung out with Julie’s Dad, Ray, until he went to work. Luke worked on music in the studio until someone distracted him, usually Julie when she came home from school and Alex either chilled with the other two or went out to fruitlessly search for Willie. 

After a killer band practice with Julie the trio of ghosts were ready to confront a possibly evil ghost girl or in Reggie’s words, meet the future Mrs Reginald Jackson. The boys poofed out of the studio and arrived just before sunset at the beach; Reggie looked around for Ell and spotted her 30ft further down the beach. He whacked Alex and Luke on the arm and nodded in her direction, taking off and hoping they’d get the message and follow. 

As he got closer, he noticed that today she was wearing distressed jean shorts, a graphic vest that hung loose around her slender frame and a floppy black hat sitting atop her ivory waves. There was a dark grey cardigan spread beneath her and a pair distressed combat boots sat off the side; she was staring off at the horizon, lost in the setting of the sun, when Reggie called out to her. 

“Ell!” 

She turned her face toward him and smile brightly, raspberry stained lips stretching wide, alabaster cheeks dimpling as she waved him over. Straightening his leather jacket, he ran a hand over his hair to make sure everything was in place and continued over to her; as he walked closer, he saw her face scrunch in confusion, probably he realised ‘cause he had the guys with him. 

“Hey Reggie, I'm glad you came! Didn’t expect you to bring company though.” Ell said as Reggie collapsed in the sand next to her, spraying some onto her which caused her to laugh and swat him on the arm. 

“Well, I was telling the guys about you and they decided they wanted to meet you.” Reggie told her excitedly, grinning at her all the while. 

Ell blinked once, twice and then looked over to where Luke and Alex were standing a few feet away. Alex was fussing with his hands and Luke had his arms crossed over his chest, glowering slightly at the girl next to him. 

“Oh! These are your band mates?” Ell gasped and went Alex opened his mouth she waved him quiet with a cheeky smirk on her lips. “No, no. Don’t tell me, I want to guess.” 

She pressed her hands together in front of her mouth, as if in prayer, and considered the pair carefully for a few moments. Reggie bit his lip as he watched, wondering what she would say. 

After a minute or two of contemplation she put down her hands and focussed her sable eyes on Alex. 

“You’re Alex,” she said pointing at the blonde drummer before swinging her finger over to Luke. “Which means you’re Luke. Am I right? Please tell me I’m right.” 

Alex gave a breathless laugh and nodded while Luke finally uncrossed his arms and nodded his agreement as well. Ell punched the air and when Reggie went to give her a high five, she slapped her hand against his hand enthusiastically, laughing gayly the whole time. 

Alex looked over at Luke, eyebrow raised and indicated with a nod of his head that they should maybe go sit down. Huffing, Luke nodded his assent and they crossed the final few feet of sand to sit next to the happy pair. 

“How’d you guess? That I’m Alex, I mean.” The drummer inquired as he tried to get comfortable on the sandy ground, looking at Ell with cautious interest. 

“You look exactly how Reggie described you, down to bum-bag you are oddly carrying across your chest.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Oh shit, you guys call them something else over here, right? Fanny...packs? Is that it?” 

“Yeah, good catch. You’re from England, right?” Alex replied with a small smile at her slip up. 

“Yes, I am proud to say I hail from old Blighty. And I know, I’m in a new country, I should really pick up some of the slang but honestly? America is one of the weirdest places in the world. And I’ve been to Korea, South and North.” Ell stated bluntly levelling Alex with a meaningful look, white brows raised and a slight curl to her lips. 

“Hey! I take offense to that.” Reggie protested loudly from beside her. She turned her head and shot him an amused and gently mocking look. 

“Really? Your countries age of consent changes based on geography. You are one of only seven, count it seven, countries in the entire world that uses Fahrenheit and don’t get me started on your Gun Control policies. Where else in the world can you go to the shops to buy milk and come home with a shotgun. Nowhere, that’s where.” 

“Well England's not that great either, we brought the world bands like The Ramones, Green Day and Nirvana. Name one great rock band the English produced.” Reggie countered, crossing his arms over his chest with a victorious little smirk. 

Ell cleared her throat, cracked her neck and with fire in her obsidian eyes began. 

“Black Sabbath, Judas Preist, Iron Maiden, Venom, Motor Head, Def Leppard, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin, the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beatles, The Smiths, The Cure, the Damned, The Jam, The Police, The Sex Pistols, The Clash,” Alex and Luke watched open mouthed as she ranted. This was almost Reggie-level ranting, no wonder he liked her so much. Reggie himself was staring at her in open mouthed awe, not even trying to formulate an answer. “Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Jarvis Cocker, David Bowie, Queen, Pink Floyd, Radio Head, Supertramp, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy.” 

She leaned back at their open-mouthed shock and grinned triumphantly, smugness oozing out of her. 

“Holy shit, you know your music dude.” Luke finally broke the near reverent silence that had followed her epic rant, he’d known from the minute Reggie challenged her that she’d likely win but had not been expecting the huge name-drop she had delivered. 

“Don’t call me dude but thanks, I love music and rock is probably one of my favourite genres. There’s so much diversity but at the same time it’s still recognisable as being rock, you know?” She replied enthusiastically, smiling brightly at the lead guitarist who returned it with one of his signature smiles. 

“So, who are your like, top ten favourite bands?” He asked, finally showing a real interest in getting to know the girl one of his best friends was crushing on. 

This question drew Reggie back into the conversation along with Alex, who had been watching as Luke let down his walls and began to offer cautious trust to the new girl. Turns out all you needed to do to be deemed ‘not evil’ in the mind of Luke Patterson was to know your stuff about rock music. 

“You can’t ask a question like that! It’s impossible to answer.” Squawked Reggie, hands flying. 

Ell just laughed delightedly and dove into the conversation with gusto, trying to engage with each of the new boys equally while still showing a preference to Reggie. Soon enough they were bantering back and forth like they’d been friends for years, Ell leaning against Reggie’s shoulder and smiling softly at the trio of boys.


	4. The one where the plot thickens

After the trio of musicians finally bid their goodbyes it was close to morning, they’d spent all night talking and joking around at the beach. Ell had charmed Alex with her talk of modern-day fashion and explanations of some of the words Willie had taught him like ‘woke’; she had gone on to dazzle Luke with her knowledge of music and the rock and roll scene since their untimely demise back in ‘95, so Reggie was counting this as a win. 

When the sky started to shown faint streaks of light over the tops of the buildings behind them, they finally said their farewells; Luke offered Ell a fist bump and a wink, while Alex hugged her briefly, a shy grin threatening at the corners of his lips. Reggie didn’t know what to do, he was nervous and terrified of making an ass out of himself but was saved when Ell took the initiative and threw her arms around him, face pressed against chest. His arms came up automatically and curled around her slim waist, pulling her tighter against him; he leaned his face down and pressed his against her ivory hair, hat having been lost during an impromptu game of tag, and inhaled her intoxicating scent. 

‘I could stay like this forever.’ He thought to himself, smiling against the silky strands of her snowy locks but reluctantly he began to untangle himself from her. She smiled at him softly, barely a curl of her lips, but her eyes shone with emotion. When she smiled like that, holy crap. It was like looking at the moon, pale beauty and gentle light, wonder and joy. 

“I’ll see you later?” Reggie stuttered over his words awkwardly but Ell only laughed softly, not in a mocking way, but in gentle amusement and lifted up onto her toes to cover the small height difference, she pressed a butterfly kiss to his cheek. 

“You know where to find me. Have a good day.” She replied before disappearing with a wave to the other boys. 

Reggie’s brain short circuited. Error: File Reggie’sBrain.xml not found. If he needed to breath, he wouldn’t be right now. 

“Earth to Reggie, come in Reginald.” He heard Alex say as if from a great distance, still lost in the feel of her lips against his cheek, when someone punched his shoulder and finally snapped him out of it. 

“OW!” He yelled turning to the Luke, the offending party, clutching his now sore arm. 

“Dude, you were totally out of it. Had to get your head outta the clouds somehow, man and I didn’t even hit you that hard.” Luke replied unapologetically, dusting his knuckles on his vest. 

“You didn’t have to hit me at all.” 

“You two can fight later, we should really be taking a leaf out of Ell’s book and heading back to Julie’s place.” Alex put in before their argument could escalate any further. 

Getting a nod of agreement, albeit a reluctant one on the part of their bassist, they collectively disappeared. 

Reappearing in the studio of the Molina house Luke instantly threw himself down on the sofa while Alex had appeared in the loft and was sitting with his legs hanging down, arms cushioning his head on the railing. Reggie appeared last, near the grand piano, and boosted himself up to sit on the edge of it. 

“Sooooooo, what do you guys think of Ell?” He drawled trying for casual and failing massively, green eyes wide and pleading as he looked between his two friends. 

The drummer and guitarist exchanged glances before looking at the bassist with emotionless faces, letting the silence and tension build. Reggie started to look worried and his bright smile started to dim when Alex broke. 

“We think she’s awesome Reggie.” He gushed with a sunny smile, kicking his legs back and forth through the air. 

Reggie swung his head to Luke who broke too, grinning over at him. 

“Yeah man, Ell’s great. No evil vibes to be found.” 

“Yes!” Reggie yelled, jumping off the piano, fist punching the air. This caused his friends to burst out in peals of laughter as their bassist starting doing a weird victory dance around the piano. 

“We should tell Julie about her, see if she’d be cool with Ell coming to practice sometime or something.” Alex suggested from his lofty perch, getting double finger guns from the still dancing Reggie. 

“Who’s Ell?” 

Three things happened simultaneously: Reggie, tripped and fell through the piano. Alex half screamed and teleported, landing on Luke who had just fallen onto the floor. 

Reggie, not having to untangle himself from another person, was the first to recover and spotted Julie at the door, fuzzy slippers on and holding a steaming cup. 

“Hey Julie!” Reggie called as he bounced across the room toward her, grin a mile wide. 

“Morning Reggie, who’s Ell?” Julie reiterated her question, not one to be deterred. 

“She’s this amazing, gorgeous, smart ghost girl I met at the beach and I think she’s into me? She kissed my cheek, that’s gotta be a sign that she’s into me, right?” Reggie babbled excitedly, gripping Julie by the shoulders, concentrated upbeat energy radiating out of him. 

“Yeah dude, it’s a sign. That hug she gave you before we left? It was intense.” Luke call reassured his friend with an elbow nudge having disentangled himself from Alex and made his way over to the pair. 

“Er, can we back up a minute? Do you guys not remember what happened last time you got involved with a strange ghost? Let me refresh your memories: YOU WERE ALMOST ERASED FROM EXISTANCE.” Julie whisper shouted the last six words, conscious of the fact that her father and little brother were only a few feet away. 

“Julie, we thought the same thing which is why we went with Reggie today to meet her and she couldn’t be less like Caleb. She’s great, we hung out with her all night and she explained a ton of stuff to me about what’s changed since we died and stuff.” Alex put in playing with the strap of his bag. 

“Yeah, and get this: girl is a rock music buff. We totally vibed Julie.” Luke threw in, running a hand through his tousled her with his half smirk playing on his lips. 

“Ugh, I wish you guys had told me you were all going to meet this girl, what if something had happened? I wouldn’t have a clue; I’d be going out of my mind worrying about you.” Julie huffed, a combination of worry and anger suffusing her. 

The boys exchanged looks and collectively came in for a group hug, careful not to knock into the steaming cup. They still couldn’t get over the fact that they could touch Julie, hug her if they wanted; the first day after the Orpheum they had pretty much piled onto the sofa in the studio and had a massive cuddle pile all day long. 

“Hey, we’re sorry Julie. It’s just, we wanted to check her out ‘cause she’s interested in seeing us play and that would mean meeting you. So, we wanted to make sure she wasn’t gonna be a danger to you. Like, we’re dead – not much more anyone can do to us, but you? There’s a lot of stuff someone could do to hurt you.” Luke murmured against the side of her head and her heart melted. 

Here she’d been worried about them, thinking they were being reckless with their afterlives, but they’d been trying to protect her. 

“Awwww, you dummy's.” She cooed and let herself bask in their hold a little longer. “You’re certain that this girl, Ell or whatever, is nothing like Caleb?” 

“Yup, practically the Anti-Caleb.” Reggie replied hopefully. 

Sighing Julie withdrew from the impromptu group hug and took a long, considering look at Reggie’s puppy dog eyes and sad pout. 

“Alright, if your all certain that she’s cool, then I suppose she can come to practice some time.” 

Reggie let out a loud whoop of joy, Luke and Alex giving him a one-armed hug on either side, only to be shushed by Julie herself. Chagrined he gave her an apologetic smile which she sighed then chuckled at, taking a sip from her steaming cup. 

“Oh, I meant to ask. What has you up so early?” Alex inquired. It was a weekend which usually meant Julie sleeping late then coming out to the studio to jam with them. 

“Gah, totally forgot that was why I came out here.” She said, slapping her forehead with her free hand. “I’ve got plans today so I won’t be able to hang with you guys.” 

“Oh cool, you going out with Flynn?” Luke drifted towards his guitar as he spoke, picking it up and idly playing with the strings. 

“No, actually. Nick invited me to go with him and his family to Angeles National Forest, it should be pretty fun.” 

Luke struck a sour note. 

“Nick huh? That’s cool, I hope you guys have a good time.” Luke ground out as cheerfully as he could.  
It seemed to have convinced Julie who smiled brightly at him before saying goodbye and heading on back to the house but Alex and Reggie were both giving him knowing looks. 

“C’mon, let's get rehearsing.” He grunted, swinging the strap of his guitar over his head.


	5. The one where Caleb makes his debut

Julie was excited, she rarely got out of the city anymore and it had been so nice of Nick to invite her along with his parents and sister. She had been a little weirded out by him when he had come over the day after the Orpheum, he’d been acting strangely, but seemed back to his normal self. 

She had her bag packed and was waiting on the curb outside her house for the Thomas’s to pick her up; she was hoping that a day out in nature would inspire her and had asked to borrow one of her dad’s less expensive cameras to take pictures with. 

A car pulled onto her street and she readjusted the straps on her backpack and waived as he recognised the car, having seen in the carpark at school. It slowed to a stop beside her and she bounced forward toward the door, pulling it open and clambering in. 

“Hey Julie!” Nick said with a cheerful smile from his place on the other side of the car, his sister sat firmly in the centre seat watching something on a tablet, headphones in. 

“Hey Nick.” She replied, smiling kindly at him as she buckled herself in. “Mrs Thomas, thanks so much for letting me come today.” 

“Oh, it’s no problem Julie. Nick usually gets stuck with us on the easy trails so it’ll be nice for him to have someone he can explore with for a change.” Nick’s mother replied from the front seat as they pulled away. 

When they arrived, they divided up, Nick and Julie for the one of the harder trails and the Thomas’s plus little Abigail were taking an easy loop trail. They agreed to meet back at the car when they were done and set off; Julie and Nick made light conversation as they trekked, Julie pausing every once in a while to snap a picture of something she found pretty or interesting. 

They were getting to a rocky section of the trail, a thin path hugging a cliff with a small drop on the other side, when it happened. She had been following in Nick’s footsteps, confidant that if the rocks were steady under him, they’d be steady under her; her foot came down and the rock buckled under her. 

She shrieked as the ground gave way and she began to fall. Her ankle was hit by something, a falling rock probably, and she felt blinding pain. 

“Julie!” Nick yelled, turning and lunging to catch her and pull her back onto the path. 

She was shaking and sobbing, terrified and in pain, and melted into Nick when he wrapped his arms around her. He rocked her gently, whispering calming words, letting her cry herself out. As the tears lessened Julie pulled back, wiping her eyes with the end of her sleeves, Nick looking at her with naked worry. 

“You okay?” He asked gently. 

“Yeah, god that was so scary.” She replied with a shaky voice. 

“You wanna try standing up? You took quite a tumble.” 

Instead of replying Julie tried to settle her still thumping heart and pushed herself up with her hands, and using Nick as support, tried to stand up only for her ankle to buckle under her and shoot knife like pain through the bone. 

Crying out in pain she let Nick lower her back to the ground. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” He demanded with eyes frantic with worry. 

“It’s my ankle, I think something hit it or I hit against something when I fell and now it hurts when I try to stand.” Julie sobbed, fresh tears running down her caramel cheeks. 

“Oh crap. I better call my parents; I don’t think I'll be able to get you back to the car myself.” He said running a hand through his hair. He fished his phone out of his pocket and cursed. “I don’t have signal here; would you be okay if I hiked back along the trail? I think I had signal near where you took the picture of those flowers.” 

Julie bit her lip; she was torn between wanting him to stay with her and wanting to get help. Ultimately, she decided that help was more important and gave the assent for him to go. 

“I’ll be back as fast as I can, okay Julie?” Nick told her, gripping her shoulder in reassurance. 

She gave him a pained smile and nodded; he stood up and turned to go back the way they had come, picking his way as quickly and carefully as he could. Had Julie seen his face when he turned away, she would have been more scared of him that her current situation for there was a malicious smirk curling on his lips and an unholy purple glow in his eyes. Step one of Caleb Convington’s revenge plan was accomplished.


	6. The one where Luke has a meltdown

Poofing into the garage, face scrunched up with worry, he noticed only Luke was there. Alex was no doubt on another Willie hunt, which usually wouldn’t bother him but right now it was not good. 

“Hey man, what’s up?” Luke asked from his spot on the couch, turning his head to look at his friend. 

“Where’s Alex, Julie’s in the hospital and I am freaking out.” Reggie blurted as he tripped his way toward his best friend, concern tugging at his disembodied heart. 

Luke was up like a shot, panic written across his face in bold, capital letters. 

“What? What happened, is she okay?” 

“I don’t know man; Ray just got a call from the hospital and then he called Julie’s aunt and he said it’s not serious but how not serious?” Reggie was babbling, he knew he was, but he couldn’t stop. He babbled when he was nervous or scared and right now, he was fucking scared, okay. 

“Okay, you stick with Julie’s Dad Reggie, I’ll wait here for Alex then we’ll come join you. You got that?” Luke took charge, tamping down his own fear in favour of helping Reggie combat his. He gripped the bassist's shoulders tightly, hazel and green locked on one another. 

“Right, I can do that. Stick with Ray. No problem.” Reggie mumbled, hands fiddling with the flannel he had tied around his waist. Luke gave him a reassuring smile which Reggie tried to return but only managed a sort of grimace before disappearing, presumably to Ray’s side. 

All of Luke’s strength left him as he collapsed to his knees, face in his hands, a low moan torn from his throat. All of the fear he felt for Julie and her safety threatened to choke him, it was like poison rushing through translucent veins, crippling him. He prayed Alex would be back soon because not knowing what was happening, not being able to see with his own eyes that Julie was okay felt like it was killing him all over again. 

It was hours later and Alex had yet to appear. Luke was going out of his mind. He wanted desperately to go find Reggie and see for himself whether Julie was okay but knew that their drummer would never forgive him if he was left out of the loop regarding Julie; he knew Alex and Reggie had come to regard Julie as something between a best friend and a sister which was especially important for Alex being the only one of them to have had siblings before they died. Luke knew that Alex’s only regret about getting kicked out by his parents was leaving his little sister behind. So Luke stayed, and waited. 

It was Reggie, not Alex, who came home first. Luke heard the sound of the Molina’s car in the drive and immediately was at full alert; Reggie appeared moments later with a smile that told Luke everything was going to be okay because if Julie were seriously hurt or sick there was no way he would be smiling, he’d be a snotty tear-soaked mess. 

“So? What’s up with Julie?” Luke demanded, his agitation and worry making him sound more aggressive than usual. 

“Julie wants us to head up to her room so she can explain properly but basically, she hurt her ankle while she was out and needed to see a doctor to find out how bad she hurt it.” Reggie replied gently, speaking as one would to a wild animal to try and calm it. 

“Shit, Alex still isn’t back yet...” 

“I’ll hold the fort here man, you go check on Jules.” Reggie interrupted, placing a comforting hand on Luke’s muscular shoulder, that crooked smile curling on his lips. 

“Thanks Reg’, I mean it.” Luke clapped him on the shoulder and disappeared. 

Reappearing in Julies room he saw the girl in question propped up in bed, with her left leg resting on a mound of pillows. Julie was on her computer typing away at something or other and had yet to notice him; her eyes were puffy, likely from crying, but otherwise the only sign of harm was the leg. 

“Hey Jules.” He said softly as he approached the bed and sat down, careful not to jostle her. 

She looked up from what she was doing with a gasp of surprise then, setting aside her computer, offered him a weak smile. 

“Luke. I guess Reggie took over Alex duty?” She was trying for humour he was sure but it came out weary and pained. 

“Yeah, I wanted to see you. What happened? I’ve been going out of my mind worrying.” 

Julie sighed and leaned back against the pillows, running a hand over her face. 

“There was an accident while I was out hiking with Nick. I was following him on this rocky path and the ground looked stable, I mean Nick had just been standing there, but I guess it wasn’t. The part of the path I stood on crumbled under me and I nearly fell but Nick pulled me back up at the last minute, some of the rock must've hit my ankle or I whacked it against the mountain side or something.” She gestured at her ankle and he now noticed the bandages mummifying it. “The doctor says I have a hairline fracture, I have to keep off it for 6-8 weeks. I’ve got to use crutches and everything.” 

Something came over Luke at that moment, he would later say he couldn’t explain what but in that moment, he felt something ugly and poisonous curl it’s way into his heart. 

“Are you kidding? You can’t be out of commission that long! What about us? What about the band?” Luke snapped as he pushed off of the bed and started pacing along the bottom of it. 

“Luke it was an accident, I know it’s not great but we can...” 

“We can what Julie? You can keep on going to school, palling around with Nick but us? Me and the guys? What are we gonna do? Huh? We’re ghosts. No one can even see us without you.” Luke spat spitefully as he thrust his hands down on either side of her leg, his eyes filled with anger. 

“It’s not like I did this on purpose Luke.” Julie snapped back, arms wide in a gesture of frustration. 

“No, but if you’d been at practice with us instead of running around with your little boyfriend this never would have happened.” He sneered. 

Hurt flashed in her brown eyes and her face contorted, almost like she was going to cry but was forcing herself not to. 

“Get out.” She hissed venomously. 

“What?” 

“I said GET OUT.” Julie almost yelled at him, gesturing angrily at the door, tears threatening at the corner of her eyes. 

“Fine.” Luke replied with equal anger, disappearing in a towering rage. 

And with that final word, somewhere in LA a very happy magician smiled. His plan was already working.


	7. The one with Cuddles and Concerns

Reggie was waiting in the studio, frantically pacing, when Alex finally arrived. Catching sight of him Reggie sprinted over to him and grabbed his biceps and started shaking him. 

“Where have you been? Between me and Luke we’ve been waiting on you for hours man! We need to get to Julies room ASAP.” 

Alex looked scared of Reggie’s manic shaking but kept quiet while his friend screech-ranted. When it looked like he was done Alex gently peeled his hands off of him and placed his own on Reggie’s shoulders, looking him in the eyes. 

“What is going on Reginald? Why are you acting like this?” 

Reggie took several gasping breaths, trying to calm down enough to speak. 

“Julie...got hurt...went hospital...Luke with her...waited for you...to go see Julie.” Reggie managed to get out between his pants, gesturing tiredly with his hands, the emotional outburst having seemingly drained the usually effervescent ghost of his buoyant energy. 

With every word Alex’s eyes widened and his face looked more ashen. 

“We gotta go.” He gasped, disappearing them both. 

Upon appearing in Julie’s bedroom, they were instantly concerned. Julie was curled up as much as she could with her damaged ankle and crying. 

The two boys rushed to the bed, crawling carefully up until they were on either side of her; the shift in weight on the bed alerted the girl that someone was there and she lifted her head to see Alex and Reggie looking at her with worry. 

“What? You guys here to yell at me too?” She said in a weak but sarcastic voice, angrily swiping tears from her cheeks with the sleeves of her hoodie. 

“Why would we yell at you? We’ve been so worried about you.” Reggie queried, exchanging confused looks with the resident drummer, who merely shrugged in response. 

“Luke did, thought you would too.” Julie mumbled with eyes downcast. 

“I’m sorry, Luke did WHAT?” 

Both Alex and Reggie dove onto the bed and crowded in close, coming at her from both sides and draping themselves around her. Enwrapping her body with arms across her and murmuring words of comfort they both snuggled in against her curled form. 

“Luke can be a bit of a diva at times, ask Alex, but he never yells. Seriously, ask Alex, he knows all about the diva life.” Reggie consoled, stroking his free hand over Julie’s hair even though it was majorly uncomfortable. He was just glad that after months of watching over Julie and seeing her when she was at her saddest, the moments when she was lost in the grief of losing her mother and never, never being able to comfort her like this, they finally could. 

“HEY!” Alex exclaimed indignantly before his features settled into a more pensive state, “Okay, that's fair. Luke can go a little crazy about the band, it was the same back with Sunset Curve. But, yeah. Luke isn’t the yelling kind. He’s the quiet-angry type, you know?” 

Julie ugly sniffed, there was a lot of snot from the earlier crying and scanned both boys with watery and eminently sad eyes. 

“He said...he said it was my fault, that I should’ve been with you guys practicing. That...that if I had...this wouldn’t have happened. He also said a bunch of stuff about Nick...” She said quietly, voice muffled from where her head was smushed against Alex’s hoodie covered shoulder. 

The boys exchanged looks over Julie’s mass of curls, the Nick stuff they got, Luke could get really jealous sometimes, but yelling at her about the band? Blaming her for getting hurt? That did not sound like the Luke they knew. 

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it; I mean, I was the one who followed your dad to the hospital, I knew what was going on the whole time. Luke was wating in the studio for Alex. He probably just got himself worked up over it and things got out of hand.” Reggie murmured, gently stroking her bushy locks, Alex doing the same on the other side. 

They kept stroking until she finally stopped sniffling. 

“I don’t say this a lot because there’s usually never cause to, but Reggie’s right. Luke just isn't that kind of guy. He’ll probably cool off somewhere and come back all apologies. Just you wait and see.” Alex told her once he was sure she wouldn’t start crying again, completely ignoring the offended noise from the bassist on the other side of the bed. 

Julie gave a watery chuckle and lifted her head to offer a weak smile. 

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m sorry about the, you know,” She gestured to her puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks, “Crying and stuff. I think I’m just over tired, today has been a bit of a rollercoaster.” 

“I love rollercoasters though!” Reggie exclaimed drawing amused groans from the other two. 

The trio moved around a little so that they were better arranged on the bed, the boys helping to ensure that Julie’s ankle was in a comfortable position, and the Latina instructed her blonde friend to grab her laptop from her desk. Once they were all comfortable, or as comfortable as two ghosts and an injured teenager could be, Julie settled her laptop across her thighs and booted it up, logged in to her Netflix account, and chatted idly with the boys about what to watch. 

‘Maybe Reggie is right. Luke will calm down and everything will be okay again.’ Julie mused to herself. 

She smiled at the two bickering band mates, and felt herself settle internally. 

‘Everything was going to be okay.’


End file.
